Post navigation

Mets Wrap, May 30: Dillon Gee Makes Rotation Statement

Pitching with his spot in the rotation on the line, Dillon Gee was magnificent as he struck out 12 and retired the last 15 hitters to carry the Mets to a 3-1 victory Thursday night over the Yankees. With the win, the Mets won consecutive two-game series and five straight games overall. After being 12 games under .500, the Mets are now 22-29.

GEE: Makes rotation statement.

ON THE MOUND: Gee gave up one run on four hits, no walks and 12 strikeouts. Gee limited the Yankees to a Robinson Cano homer in the third. Gee struck out the final five hitters he faced. … Scott Rice recorded two outs in the eighth and Bobby Parnell shut down the Yankees in the ninth for his ninth save.

AT THE PLATE: The Mets managed just four hits, the most important being Marlon Byrd’s two-run homer in the second. John Buck drove in the Mets’ third run with an infield single in the eighth. … The Mets were 1-for-9 with RISP.

THEY SAID IT: “I’m not stupid,’’ – Gee when asked if he recognized the situation in the Mets’ rotation.

BY THE NUMBERS: 20: Consecutive Yankees retired to end the game.

METS MATTERS: Catching prospect Travis d’Arnaud will have his broken left foot re-examined Friday. The projection for d’Arnaud is now as a September call-up, which would preclude trading Buck to a contender. … Terry Collins said Omar Quintanilla, if he’s playing well, could remain the shortstop when Ruben Tejada comes off the disabled list. … Jon Niese was scratched from Saturday’s start with tendinitis in his left shoulder. He will be replaced by Collin McHugh. … Reliever Scott Atchison, on the disabled list with numbness in his right fingers, could have elbow surgery to remove a bone spur.

ON DECK: The Mets start a three-game series beginning Friday in Miami. Shaun Marcum starts Friday.

As always, your comments are greatly appreciated and I will attempt to answer them. Please follow me on Twitter @jdelcos

I gotta agree re Wheeler. Not just for the recent bad start, but mostly because he just had some shoulder woes. I’d rather them make sure that issue is in the past rather than bring him up. He comes up, he is going to be amped, which will mean he will overthrow, possibly causing the issue to return.

Bullpen – Rice, Hawkins and Parnell are the only reliable arms.

I was at the game with a buddy last night, and he said “I’m with the in sandy I trust, but I am starting to waver. No outfield, poor pen. Minor’s have no ats at the mid to higher levels, and nowhere do they have a guy who looks like a good leadoff guy (high OBP, some speed).” I have to agree.

One thing that burns me is the continued lack of fundamentals. Ruben the other night, instead of going for the sure out up several runs, looks back the runner on second. This has been going on for YEARS, with multiple players. They need to revamp the coaching at the lower levels to preach the basics. Get the out, and use 2 hands on pop-ups and flyballs (I was having Castillo flashbacks on the pop-up to Quintanilla last night). We’ve got 3 guys in the front office who are smart, well, let’s see some results. I’m not talking a WS this year, I wasn’t expecting that. I’m talking seeing guys held accountable. I’m talking about guys playing smart and hard. And finally, STOP WITH THE DAMN LEAKS about conversations with players. It only makes it worse when guys read about “sources say so and so is going to be sent down if he doesn’t improve.” Tell the player that, but keep it private for pete’s sake.

Rice’s arm is going to fall off by the end of June at this point. Shades of Willie and Jerry in terms of overusing bullpen guys, like Feliciano, Joe Smith, etc.
Gee was on last night, there was no reason to pull him. Were they really afraid of Ichiro? Gee had struck out several guys in a row, making them look really bad.
Gotta say, Gee received a hearty ovation when he was taken out (I was there last night). Crowd was very dead for the most part, even when the scoreboard asked for noise, nothing. Loudest the Yank fans were was for Joba (why I have no idea).
I had a bad feeling in the first inning when Marlon tripped trying to field that hit. Thankfully no harm. And when Quintinilla did his ole, I got nervous again.
For the Yankee fans saying “well, they beat our scrubs”, well, you were raving about those same “scrubs” for weeks. And if the Mets are so bad, shouldn’t the vaunted Yankees, who are able to turn washed up players into stars simply by putting them in pinstripes (or on ARod’s special diet j/k) have been able to beat them still? Cano had a terrible 4 games.
I gotta say, Buck looks bad, and Duda needs to be more aggressive. I understand wanting to be selective, but good lord man, when you see a fastball, SWING! That goes for the rest of the team as well.